1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a device for transferring items to a transport system or to a storage device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices for transferring items are used, for example, to transfer blister packs to the transfer chain of a cartoning machine. U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,979 describes a device for transferring blister packs to a moving blister pack transfer chain, in which two parallel lines of blister packs are transported by two separate conveyor belts. A pickup unit picks up the blister packs, which are initially arranged in parallel rows, and forms a stack of two blister packs, one on top of the other, on each of the two conveyor belts, wherein the individual stacks are arranged a certain distance apart from each other, and the stacks of one conveyor belt are offset from the stacks of the other conveyor belt. Finally, the stacks of blister packs are pushed together by a pusher transversely to the transport direction of the conveyor belts to form a line, so that a row of closely spaced blister pack stacks can be carried onward on a transport belt. A device of this type is subject to considerable limitations with respect to the further processing of the blister stacks, because they can be transported only in the conveying direction of the two conveyor belts. Finally, a device such as this occupies a relatively large amount of space.
A similar device is also known from WO 00/68086, in which individual blister packs, which are arranged in parallel rows, are again deposited with an offset from each other on two conveyor belts by a pickup unit. The conveyor belts work in cycles, and the blister packs are pushed out from the their cassettes toward a transport device located between the two conveyor belts, as a result of which a line of closely spaced blister packs is formed on this transport device. Here, too, however, the blister packs can be conveyed onward only in the transport direction of the conveyor belts, and the device again occupies a relatively large amount of space.
A device in which the individual blister packs are brought up into position one by one by a vacuum belt in a direction parallel to that in which the transport system moves is known from EP 1,602,584 A1. The blister packs are delivered in stacks to the cassette module of a transfer unit. The cassette module can be moved in synchrony with the packaging material transport system, wherein, during the parallel movement, the stacks of blister packs are pushed by pushers into the individual receptacles of the transport system. The cassette module then travels back to its starting position, where it is refilled with blister packs by the vacuum belt. The device is complicated mechanically, occupies a large amount of space because of the movement of the cassette module, and makes it possible to fill only special types of transport devices.